Kiz: OK, let’s quit messing around. The Broncos and Demaryius Thomas need to get a long-term contract done. Now. Or sooner. Yes, D.T. is under contract. The franchise tag binds him to the Broncos and guarantees him a cool $12.82 million salary for this season. But, as football players go, I think Thomas is a sensitive soul. More than the money in a long-term deal, I think Thomas needs the Broncos to show him the love. And if they don’t … I’m willing to bet his performance will suffer.

Hooch: His attitude might suffer, but if D.T. is FT’d, I don’t think his performance will suffer (that much). I agree, Demaryius may be too much of a sweetheart, but clearly he plays ferocious football and, it seems, is playing ferocious negotiator. But is he playing a precocious negotiator? He’s said he’s better than Calvin Johnson. Well, I’m glad he feels that way, but John Elway isn’t giving Calvin Johnson-type money to D.T., which is a little more than $1 million per game.

Kiz: If Elway was willing to cut the pay of quarterback Peyton Manning, then you know Elway ain’t afraid to play hardball with Thomas. The NFL’s highest-paid receiver is Johnson — Thomas is good, but he ain’t no Megatron. D.T.’s skills are off the charts, but to put it nicely, I think he’s a bit too nice to be the receiver who wins every 50-50 ball or be the man who imposes his will when the going gets tough in the playoffs.

Hooch: Well, we are talking about a guy who set a Super Bowl record for catches, and somehow didn’t fumble on the famed Kam Chancellor hit. And he made some catches last season that weren’t just incredible, but implausible. The NFL Network recently revealed its top-100 players going into the 2015 season. D.T. finished at No. 20. Here are the receivers listed ahead of him: Jordy Nelson (18), Dez Bryant (15), Julio Jones (13), Antonio Brown (8) and Megatron (6). I’d take Thomas over Nelson. As for a contract situation, I foresee Jerry Jones and Dallas overpaying for Dez, meaning Denver might have to overpay for D.T. as the Wednesday deadline looms.

Kiz: Haggling is for losers. The Broncos have to get down to work, with a new offense to perfect as their Super Bowl window begins to close on Manning. So here’s what I propose to Thomas: five years, $67.5 million, with $40 million guaranteed. That buys a lot of groceries. Take it. Or leave it. But either way, be there at the first practice when training camp opens July 31, ready to work.

Hooch: I like where your head’s at, but I think he’s going to get $14 million per year on a five-year deal — thus a $70 million contract, with $44 million guaranteed. Here’s hoping that when the 2018 top-100 players list comes out, D.T. is still in the top, say, 30.

Benjamin Hochman was a sports columnist for The Denver Post until August 2015 before leaving for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, his hometown newspaper. Hochman previously worked for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes for its Hurricane Katrina coverage. Hochman wrote the Katrina-themed book “Fourth and New Orleans,” published in 2007.

“This is one of the great jobs in all of sports,” Colorado AD RIck George said Sunday. “There's not a better job in America than here in Colorado." Translation: If you’re not here to win championships, pal, don’t join the party.

If recent history is any indication, Helton likely faces an uphill climb to become the first Colorado player inducted into Cooperstown because of the bias that voters tend to hold against hitters who spent their careers playing home games at elevation.

The inspiration for the nickname came from "the outdoors, the sunshine, that feeling you get when you live here in Colorado," Vibes general manager Chris Phillips explained during Monday's name unveiling.